go ahead.

get up.

dance. 

leon's stylish sound 

is hard to deny.

October Graphic Novel Celebration ends this week, but on Sunday November 1 there will be a Twitter chat on graphic novels (and using GNs in teaching) at 8:00pm EST. Use #GNCelebration to participate.

This week I'm going to do a quick share of three unique graphic novels. Please enjoy.

Jane, the fox & me by Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault

For readers aged 10-100+

Left out and bullied, Helene turns to the book Jane Eyre in order to shut off sadness. She understands Jane. She also understands the hardships facing her mother, but she isn't sure what to do about it. Then a school camping trip forces Helene outside her routine comforts and the darkness lifts. First, she falls into a lovely friendship and then she learns to appreciate and express herself. The fox is a surprise. One that will touch any reader.

French Milk by Lucy Knisley

For readers aged 17-100+

A memoir, French Milk chronicles Lucy and her mother's trip to Paris, but there are a few twists. Like how the story puts a unique focus on food and eating and how that plays into their sight-seeing and feelings. Like the way Knisley uses both illustration and photography, grounding the graphics in her personal view of Paris. In the end, with each facing important birthdays, this mother-daughter team experiences poignant memories and inner conflicts, but all with hope for a bright future. A true and sweet read.

Building Stories by Chris Ware

For readers aged 21-100+

Get ready for a hands-on, puzzle-piecing reading adventure. This graphic novel is like no other because it's a novel-in-a-box and has different parts and pieces that can be read in different orders, enhancing the reader's view of each character or situation. Tying it together are the settings--houses, homes, apartments, buildings. The unusual spin Ware puts on the story is the sense of melancholy, which counters the hope that the settings provide. The cozy and welcoming themes of getting settled or feeling at-home are dashed by the unhappiness of the characters. The sadness of this collection is undeniable, but it does make one think.

The Truth in Graphic Novels

October 
Graphic 
Novel 
Celebration 
continues...

Two interesting things have occurred to me in the last week. First, since I joined the #GNCelebration I've been able to read three new graphic novels* and revisit two favorites. This level of reading doesn't usually happen in seven days time and I'm loving what I'm being exposed to in these books. Unique coming-of-age stories from women of different cultures, the gaps between generations, issues of aging. These themes can be found in traditional novels, but the visuals provided in graphic novels elevate these topics. I connect more quickly, I feel more deeply, which leads me to my second discovery of the week... Because graphic novels do such a great job of show and tell, there's no escaping the truth. Here's an example:

The YA GN Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki is a favorite and captivated me even before I opened the book. Inside, the main character Kim is a not-so-ordinary girl and we read her struggle in the words and see it in her expressions and body language. But when one of her teachers reveals something personal to Kim, the illustrations let us feel Kim's truth. Here, Kim seems to want to hide, but a closer look lets us into her melancholy:

Later, Kim's short and simple answers can't hide the true feeling of anger that shows on her face.

And much later, we're allowed to view the relief and joy for finding a true friend even while she lounges on the couch and calls Katie a weirdo. Katie's "weird" is also on full display and we see the truth--there's something special growing between these two girls.

Every GN I read has this kind of inescapable truth-telling. Often it's because the author and/or illustrator have had some version of the experience they write and draw about. But it's not just the memoir-esque storytelling that elevates the truths these novels explore. It's the combination of seeing our characters in their natural environment, displaying--and sometimes trying to disguise--their true feelings. And this, I think, is the point of the graphic novel. To get to the whole of the characters and their stories.

In the end, this week's discovery surprised me a bit. I mean, I've always loved the combination of words and art in GNs, but what I really love is the truth, written and drawn, said and shown and felt. To discover a truth is why I read anything, actually, and since graphic novels do it so well, it explains why they make up the bulk of my list of book favorites.

*Thanks to blogger Elisabeth Ellington for these great GN recommendations:

Embroideries, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant, and Magic Barrel